Trawling up an old thread here guys but I'm struggling to get my head round high blood pressure and training/racing.
I'm on Amlodipine 10mg to control blood pressure but just recently B.P has climbed a little and currently 150/90.
I'm due a visit to the Dr's again and I'm a bit concerned they're going to suggest changing medication. I'm only concerned as I haven't had any real side effects on Amlodipine so I'd be keen to stay on this.
When I visit the Dr's I'd like to be in a position where I may suggest some lifestyle changes rather than a change of medication and one thing that springs to mind would be Energy Drinks/Sports drinks which from the searches I've done all seem to contain Sodium, Caffeine etc, quite understandably so, as we all need this to avoid cramping, keep hydrated etc.
Anyone out there able to recommend any Energy drink which may be more suited to sufferers of high blood pressure, plus any other useful tips for blood pressure sufferers would be really appreciated.
Maybe since this topic was originally running there's been new medication introduced that may suit competitive cyclists ?
Thanks in advance, your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've been on BP medication for many years, with no effect on my riding.

Vasotec 10mg (Enalapril) plus Norvasc 5mg (Amlodipine). Without it I'd be an emergency case.

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Hello there! I am 24 years old and been diagnosed for high bp 3 months ago. I use 1 pill of diovan 160 mg every morning with my breakfast.my average bp is around 12/7 now. When i discovered my problem(while serving in the army) my bp was around 15/10. My problem is hereditary because my mother and my grandfather had high bp from young age. With diovan i have not experienced any problems at all. My max hr is 198 and my resting hr is around 47.I am training and racing for about 3 years now. My doctor's advice is to avoid extra salt,junk food and also he insisted that aerobic exercise is good for me.I noticed that after training my bp is always lower than before. Good luck!

I know this is an old thread but I'm wondering if there are any references/citations to articles about negative impact of diuretics.

Google would probably return good number of references.

My record BP was 175/110 a year ago. After further checks, my doctor decided that it's something called masked hypertension. Apparently drugs don't help with this condition and it looks like changes in diet do f*ck all. Funny thing is that at the doc's office, my BP is typically in 130/80 range.

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@UphillRage, and others: Diovan is an angiotensin receptor blocker and will not affect your HR in the same direct manner as a beta blocker, nor would Amlodipine (calcium channel blocker), or Enalapril (ACE inhibitor).

I have something similar, premature ventricular contractions, odd fluttering extra/missed heart beat sensations. After very detailed checks they were diagnosed as benign. Resting heart rate on a low dose of beta blockers was 44. I've decreased the dose over a period of a month and now off them for about 2 weeks. RHR is 52 now, max heart rate not sure but definitely higher. I've yet to see any performance increases. My research has shown that in theory and clinical trials, performance increases should be relatively significant.

165 lbs - 6 1 - 26 years old

my experience; lifestyle changes are very important: sodium, caffeine, heavy eating, smoking - whatever else may be a personal trigger.

Im also on BP meds. Train (on average) 12-15 hours per week (triathlete) but still didnt make a difference. You cant beat genetics!

Spoke to my doc before starting the meds and made sure he knew what I did. Prescribed an ACE inhibitor. Lowers BP without effecting heart rate. BP now normal, no loss of performance. If anything, Im running better than ever.

Hi guys, many thanks for the replies. It's interesting to hear how everyone else is dealing with BP issues and the various medications being prescribed. Having looked into this in more depth I think my personal choice for medication would be ACE Inhibitor, but as I mentioned previously, I've had no real noticeable side effects with Amlodipine, so I was a little bit reluctant to potentially be changing.
However, it's been better news recently, whether due to lifestyle changes or not is debatable, but at this early stage, picking up on what Canbakay mentioned, I would suggest lifestyle changes seem to have helped.
From 150/90 approximately 4 weeks ago, and my understanding is that I've had higher readings than that in the recent past, I've taken the decision to reduce Salt even more, although I used Low Salt anyway, not touched a drop of alcohol for the best part of a month ( I used to enjoy the odd glass of Red Wine...good for cardio vascular ), was probably drinking too much strong Coffee, so I've reduced that to a couple of cups a day, introduced Cranberry, Blueberry and Raspberry smoothies, also Cranberry Juice and finally, I read that Celery may lower BP by up to 8 points, so I've been forcing that down too!
I re-visited Dr's last week and my BP was 140/88 so slightly lower, and would you believe it, just returned from Dr's this morning with a reading of 127/84....WINNER !! The Doctor double checked this reading to make sure she hadn't messed up but once again 127/84.
Obviously I'm hoping this isn't just a fluke but hopefully this shows lifestyle changes can have a positive outcome.
Anyone else out there with BP issues may well want to consider similar changes as before I started I was sceptical and whilst I appreciate everyone's condition is different, it may be worth a shot.
I'm just hoping I'm not just on a lucky day and this downward trend will continue.
Thanks again for all the replies and good luck with your BP issues.

I am always happy to see that someone says I am going to change my lifestyle, I rarely believe them but am happy.

One thing to consider here is how wildly unreliable office BPs are. They are usually high. In general home BP monitoring with a good machine and taking a few minutes to do it properly is much more accurate. The usual, sitting quietly, not talking to anyone, no coffee, cigarettes..., sitting with feet and back supported.

Amlodipine is a good med in your situation. ACE inhibitors or ARBs are also very good in this situation. I do always worry somewhat about electrolyte disturbances in athletes with these, though obviously better than diuretics.

I have just been told that I have high B/P , and been told to stop riding all together, while getting it sorted. Was wondering if any one else had been feeling extremely fatigued leading up to/ while having been told about there high B/P?
Have done some research and found the headaches are normal, but not so much the tiredness.
Power well down, no endurance. I find it quite odd, and the doc couldn't really tell me anything. Cheers

The beta blockers will definitely be the cause of your problem. They do in fact work partly but not entirely as your doctor says by limiting you heart. I am a doctor also with a medical degree and degree in pharmacology.

In limiting your heart rate it will mean you are not able to generate the high heart rates you normally would through excercise and therefore it will limit your perfomance. It is an effect on beta receptors in the heart which get blocked by the drugs. Normal stimulation of these receptors would cause the heart rate, and the force of contraction of the heart to both increase. Unfortunately this effect will be limited in yourself. This receptors are pretty important in exercise and perfomance and it is exactly for this reason that many "cheats" take drugs to stimulate these receptors (eg. asthmatic sprays - ventolin , pseudoephedrine etc). The reverse of the effect you are feeling by having these receptors blocked.

Beta blockers can even make you feel pretty tired when not exercising.

Plenty of other types of blood pressure medicines exist that work via other receptors and therefore get round this problem.

Howard

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